Quinnipiac's Rand Pecknold: Keeping Players In The Program

With 11 seniors, a terrific goalie and a bunch of emerging playmakers up front, Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold entered the 2012-13 season knowing his team would be good.

"I knew this was going to be the best team we've ever had from a talent perspective from a compete perspective," Pecknold said. "This was going to be a veteran team. The kids definitely buy in. They listen and do what's asked. I know people all the time say, why wouldn't everybody buy in? Well, it's hard to get 21, 22, 20Â¿yearÂ¿old kids to buy in.

"But I knew we were going to be great this year. I knew we'd absolutely be top 20. Probably thought we'd be top 15, and had a good chance of being in the Top 10. Did I think we'd go to the Frozen Four? I mean, I knew it was a possibility. But was I thinking, 'We're going to do this'? Nobody thinks that. It's really hard to get to this point. And I think just always in general, if you have a great goalie and you get in the tournament, you know if he gets hot, you can do anything. Kids prove that all the time. So I think I knew that we were going to be great this year. This good? No. But it's really elevated us and it's kind of a perfect storm, and everything's just worked our way."

One of the keys was making sure all the players stuck around. Many could have left. Matthew Peca was drafted by the Lightning. Kellen Jones was drafted by the Oilers. Jordan Samuels-Thomas was drafted by the Jets. Connor Jones, Eric Hartzell and others undrafted can sign free agent contracts whenever they want and move on when they see fit.

Pecknold address the issue of player recruiting and retention.

"I think there are a lot of things in college hockey that head coaches need to be good at," he said. "Recruiting is probably the main thing, getting the players. I would say now retention might be too, keeping your players. The way the NHL is set up right now with the CBA and everything, if those kids don't like their coach, they don't like the school, if you don't win, it's really easy to turn pro quickly.

"I think one of the mostÂ¿ important things we need to do as a head coach is make sure our kids love where they are, they love the program. That's why Connor, Kellen and Peca all came back. They love Quinnipiac. They love their teammates. They love the culture that we've created. They know we have a good thing going here, and they're going to be patient with their professional careers. We've had multiple players over the years offered to leave early, and we've never had a kid leave. It's funny, we had a recruiting battle last year when two schools actually used that against us. They're like, 'Quinnipiac doesn't have kids sign early; you can come here and leave in two years.' And I turned it around, said 'Why don't they leave?' And we actually won the battle on those kids, the brothers. And it's something that we're proud of. Again, if it gives a kid the right time to go, that's fine. If Tampa Bay decides Matthew Peca is ready, and we feel he's got a great opportunity, I'll drive him to the airport. But I think Tampa's been good. They're patient. They know he needs to get bigger and stronger, and I'm hoping we get one more year out of him. He's getting better. We're doing a great job of developing these kids. So the bigger worry is with the free agents. They can go anywhere they want. But I think the retention is a big part of what head coaches have to do."